In any industry—but especially the construction industry—it is critical to have a website to promote services and generate sales. However, the internet is a crowded place these days and just having a website isn’t enough. To effectively increase traffic and sales, websites will need to be fine-tuned with search engine optimization (SEO). As business owners seek to make their websites work for them in 2018, here are some key SEO strategies.

1. Get mobile friendly

If a website is not responsive to desktop and mobile devices, it should be fixed immediately. Gone are the days of an internet run by searches originating from a desktop computer. Today, more people are searching on mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets. If a website is not mobile friendly, viewers will abandon the site—leaving money on the table.

2. Revise and repurpose content

Rather than constantly writing new blogs, try going back to old posts from time to time, adding or updating them and publishing them in revised form. Better yet, repurpose content into a new form of media, such as a video or infographic.

3. Use long-tail keywords

Trends have shifted toward descriptive long-tail keywords. This means that it pays more to target longer, specific keyword phrases than getting left in the dust by targeting broad search phrases (e.g: "new construction Salt Lake City" versus "construction"). By narrowing down target phrases, websites can show up in more specific search queries, which also tends to convert those visitors to customers easier. Know the audience and what they are looking for. Address their needs and interests through long-tail keywords. Use those keywords throughout the site, making sure they flow naturally in the context of the text.

4. Switch to https

Secure websites are a necessity. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is the secure iteration of HTTP, the protocol that transmits data between a browser and the website that is being viewed. The 'S' at the end of HTTPS indicates that information flowing between the browser and website is encrypted. Today’s internet users feel more confident about viewing websites and ordering products from HTTPS websites. And what users like, Google likes. As of recently, Google acknowledged that secure websites have an advantage in ranking over non-secure websites.

5. Focus on fast

Few things will chase visitors away like a slow-loading site. Again, Google feels the same way. Even an extra second or two can cause a website to lose customers to the competition or get knocked down a notch in search engine rankings. Pictures are great, especially if they give users an insight into the quality construction work that is being offered, but keep them to a minimum to avoid unnecessary page load time. And when images are used, use a tool to compress them and reduce their resolution before uploading them to ensure quick load times.

Few things will be as helpful to a building or contracting business as a website. If a company doesn't have a website, it should develop one. If a company already has a website, it should take measures to advance its SEO strategy this year.